Saturday, March 16, 2013

Teaching Creatively Blog Hop- File Folder Games and More

Over the past few years we have enjoyed integrating games into our homeschool. While we have played board games, I love the idea of using a file folder to create a game. It is easy to store and doesn't take up a lot of room. And they are great for hands on learning.

There are many sites where you can print out file folder games for free.

File Folder Fun has games organized by age or subject. They have file folders that are appropriate for grades pre-k through 3rd grade. They have subjects such as animals and bugs, cake and cupcake, even character development.

While there are great file folders that you can print out at these sites, we didn't always have the printer ink to print them out. I would like to share some ideas for file folder games you could easily make.

Simply print out two copies of shape outline papers. I created the pattern in my word processing program. You can use whatever shapes you want to work with. Glue one copy of the patterns onto the file folder and use the other copy to cut the shapes out of construction paper. I always staple my pattern to the construction paper so it will not move while cutting. You can step it up a bit by having your child use different colors as well. I store the pieces in a zippy bag stapled to the back of the file folder.

I printed out triangles and cut them out, then I traced the triangle onto the file folder. We were learning the letter t, that is why we used triangles and letter t's, but this can be used with any shape and letter. Your child can match upper case to upper case and lower case to lower case or they can match upper case to lower case.

When we were learning the letter W a few years ago we played this file folder game I designed and created. Here is the storyline of the game:Rabbit (from Winnie the Pooh) went to the market to buy watermelon seeds to plant in his garden. On the way home the seeds were falling out of a hole in the sack without Rabbit noticing. Winnie the Pooh is following the path (by walking of course) to pick up as many seeds as he can to return them to Rabbit. We were supposed to use a die, but I couldn't find one. So I grabbed the spinner out of our Chutes and Ladders game. On each player's turn the spinner is spun and the player moves the designated number of spaces. The player then either takes the seeds from the pile if landing on a number space, loses a certain amount of seeds if landing on a minus space, loses all seeds if landing on the "Oh Bother" space, or loses a turn if landing on the "Hunny" pot space (because we all know Winnie the Pooh will not pass up an opportunity to help himself to a smackarel of honey).

I just glued construction paper onto the inside of the file folder and glued on squares for spaces, then I printed out pictures of Winnie the Pooh for pawns and some other pictures to glue onto the board. I always use Google Images to find pictures by typing in "_________ coloring page." That way I know it is a

The blue blob is supposed to be a helmet and represents the defense (I guess I could have printed one out, we may have been out of ink). The football represents the offense.

The children take turns spinning the spinner (from Chutes and Ladders). The person with the football goes first and the first spin is the kickoff spin. The football gets placed on the number spun. Then they take turns spinning and moving the number of yard lines indicated by their spin. The person with the helmet has to try to stop the football by landing on the same yard line with an exact spin. If the football gets to the goal line or beyond they get a touchdown. If the helmet passes the football that person gets to go backwards to try to catch the football on the next turn. Each time one of the girls got a touchdown they got a penny. I was going to turn it into a coin exchange lesson, but Amelia got tired of the game after just a few rounds (it doesn't take that long to get a touchdown because you don't need to get an exact count, but she was just a little too young for it I guess.) Tabitha didn't get tired of it, so daddy and I took turns playing with her.

I made this game when we were reading the book Papa Piccolo with Five in a Row. You could make this a Kittens in the Basket game instead. I found the gondola coloring page over at Crayola's website by googling "gondola coloring page." The girls each colored five gondolas. Then I taped two sheets of light blue paper together to represent the water of the canals. I made number cards by cutting out 1.5 inch squares. I made two sets of yellow numbers 0-5 and one set of orange numbers 0-10. The kittens were also found by googling "kitten coloring page." Then I just made a sheet of them in my word processing program and printed them onto construction paper.

Welcome to Tots and Me... Growing Up Together, where I share homeschool activities, crafts, recipes, and tips, both of my own creation and those I have found around the web. I also love to share reviews and the occasional giveaway.

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About Me

I am a stay at home mom. I have always wanted to teach, started college with a major in Early Education, but ended up staying home with my son (which turned into staying home with my 2 sons and daughter). Years later ended up with an Associates Degree in Human Services. Which helped me get a director's position at the Montessori I was working at. I am now staying home with my 3 young children. While my older children are off in public school we are homeschooling. I am doing what I always dreamed of doing, teaching!! I feel this is where God has led and willed me to be. I will be here to "Train up [my children] in the way [they] should go: [so] when [they are] old, [they] will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6